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the whole scene at once becoming animated! After the first powerful im¬ 
pression from this display of the charms of nature, like our first parent , 
he would arrange this beautiful assemblage in his mind, and form three 
classes or kingdoms of nature, the Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal. 
The Mineral Kingdom in rude masses occupies chiefly the interior parts; 
and is obedient to the laws of attraction or aggregation, by which it in¬ 
creases. 
The Vegetable Kingdom, possesses the surface of the earth, which it 
clothes with verdure, imbibes nourishment from the surrounding elements, 
perspires by its quivering leaves, celebrates its marriages in flowers, and by 
this intercourse continues its several species; lives, dies, and is regenerated 
by seeds, preserving the aspect of nature for ever blooming. 
It boasts the following tribes, Palms, kings of the earth, eminent for 
their prodigious height, remarkable for an unvaried, simple, perennial stem, 
crowned with a tuft of leaves perpetually green, and bearing the choicest 
fruit. 
* Straight toward heav’n my wond’ring eyes I turn’d. 
And gaz’d awhile the ample sky, till rais’d 
By quick instinctive motion, up I sprung, 
As thitherward endeavouring, and upright 
Stood on my feet: about me round I saw 
Hill, dale, and shady woods, and sunny plains. 
And liquid lapse of murm’ring streams; by these. 
Creatures that liv’d and mov’d, and walk’d, or flew, 
Birds on the branches warbling; all things smil’d. 
With fragrance and with joy my heart o’erflow’d. 
Myself I then perus’d, and limb by limb 
Survey’d, and sometimes went, and sometimes ran 
With supple joints, as lively vigour led: 
But who I was, or where, or from what cause. 
Knew not: to speak I try’d, and forthwith spake; 
My tongue obey’d, and readily could name 
Whate’er I saw. ‘ Thou Sun,’ said I, ‘ fair light, 
And thou, enlighten d Earth, so fresh and gay. 
Ye Hills and Hales, ye Rivers, Woods, and Plains. 
And ye that live and move, fair creatures, tell; 
T.ell, if ye saw, how came I thus, how here? 
Kot of myself; by some great Maker then, 
In goodness and in pow’r pre-eminent; 
I ell me, how may I know him, how adore, 
‘ From whom I have that thus I move and live, 
And feel that I am happier than I know.’ 
Milton. 
